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Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887), second Secretary (1878-1887) of the Smithsonian with his wife, Mary (left), and daughter, Lucy (right),
released in the Pacific, where both species are now well-
on the porch of their house in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where Baird established the United States Fish Commission Station in 1875.
established.
And he didn’t stop with
fish that were readily available
in North America. Since carp
were popular in Europe, Baird
thought they would be well-
received in the U.S. After all, they
were easy to raise, prolific and a
cheap source of protein. Surely
Americans would grow to love
them.
Well, not yet. But even
though carp have never gained
wide popularity here, Baird
was so effective at generating
interest among Washington’s
power elite that nearly every
congressman in the entire
country jumped at the chance
to send free carp fry to
constituents. If these “trash”
fish seem to be everywhere
today, we have Baird and our
19th century congressmen to
thank for it.
Baird served the U.S. Fish
certainly could not survive, Baird wrote, “It
Commission and the Smithsonian
makes no difference what is done with the
with great distinction for many years. But
salmon eggs. The object is to introduce them
in November of 1885, his diary started to
into as many states as possible and have
list serious health problems — heart issues,
credit with Congress accordingly. If they are
headaches, leg pain and urinary difficulties.
there, they are there, and we can so swear,
His ailments progressed until his doctors
and that is the end of it.”
demanded that he stop work altogether and
Obviously, Baird understood politics
rest for at least a year beginning in May of 1887.
as well as he understood nature. Whether
He took his family to the Adirondack Mountains,
the transplanted fish lived or died was of
and his health seemed to be improving for a
little import to him as long as he and his
while but by summer things took a bad turn and
department got the credit. After all, who
Baird died in August at the age of 64, likely from
was to say that each and every egg, fry or
heart disease. An auditorium in the Smithsonian
fingerling had died in a particular stocking
is named in his honor.
effort? Maybe some survived and fed
Few men in American history had a
American settlers.
greater appreciation of and positive impact
Though many of Baird’s efforts were a
upon nature in this country. And though most
complete failure, bass proved quite resilient
bass anglers have never heard of him, it’s likely
and adaptable. In addition to bass, he was able no one did more to promulgate the bass.
to ship tank-car loads of shad and striped
And it’s a good bet that Spencer Fullerton
bass all the way across North America to be
Baird never caught even one.
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